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Monday, March 7, 2016

The readings for this week discuss the role that Elvis played in
popular culture throughout his life. During the 1950’s, Elvis was not only a
music star, but also an actor and a sex icon — his sexual depiction resonating
with many lifelong fans and impersonators alike.

Celebrities and trends
may come and go, but very few obtain a cult following that is still celebrated
to this day. Sure, every generation has its fix, but in terms of absurd amounts
of stardom — and fandom for that matter — Elvis Presley was in a league all his
own. Elvis started “fan-girling.” He was the reason why girls during the
fifties and sixties would faint and get in hysterics — his rapid hip movements,
movie star good looks, yet “boy next door” persona not only made him relatable
and “the perfect guy” but his agents and representatives saw him as the perfect
moneymaking enterprise. Unfortunately for Elvis, his personal goals were not
necessarily met. Sure as a musical artist and entertainer he was revered around
the world, but like any pop star, there comes a point in his or her career,
where they want to be taken seriously. In Elvis’ case, he aspired to be a
great, dramatic actor like Marlon Brando — his “people” felt it would be a more
lucrative idea to appeal to his young, female audience and star in musical
films with Presley as the lead. However, the appeals to his audience did much
more than just get a bunch of teenage girls excited about sex and rock and roll
— his popularity started a movement that not only would change the course of
music history, but would change the way academics view celebrities of the Elvis
degree.

The White Trash Aesthetic
is one of the repercussions of Elvis’ popularity. Unfortunately, Elvis’s southern
roots created a new class of people that would be viewed as lower class than
African Americans. In our nation’s history, I don’t think anyone predicted that
that would happen. Gael Sweeney’s paper “The King of White Trash Culture: Elvis
Presley and the Aesthetics of Excess,” he talks about how the idea of why White
Trash individuals are so much less desired than the whole African American
race. Apparently, acting like someone who is black is worse than actually being
black; essentially, acting black is racist, but of course saying that acting
black is racist is in fact racist, so we have a never-ending catch-22 that our
country so kindly created, oh so many years ago.